Remembering the fallen

The first parsha we read this week is Acharei Mot, which begins after the deaths of the two sons of Aaron. In a devar Torah entitled Power of Silence, Rabbi Joel Grossman explains:

When Aharon heard the news that his two sons died, the Torah states his reaction as, “Vayidom Aharon,” “Aharon was silent.” Zelig Pliskin (in Growth Through Torah) asks why Aharon was praised so much for not complaining against Hashem after what happened to his sons, if we find in the Gemara (Brachot 60b) that Rabbi Akiva says, “All that Hashem does is for the best,” and in another Gemara (Taanit 21a), Nachum Ish Gam Zu used to say, “This, too, is for the best.” The Mishna in Brachot says that, “We are obligated to bless Hashem for the bad just as we are obligated to bless Him for the good.” All these cases in the Gemara show that saying something is better then not saying anything. If this is true, then why was Aharon praised for his silence?
Zelig Pliskin answers that when a person says, “All that Hashem does is for the best” about something, which originally bothered him, it illustrates how he uses his intelligence to overcome his originally negative reaction. An even higher level for a person, though, is to internalize the situation, knowing that all of Hashem’s actions are for the best, and therefore have no need to say anything. Aharon remained silent since he understood this concept, that all that Hashem does is for the best. The more you learn to accept the will of Hashem, the greater joy you will experience in your life.
http://koltorah.org/VOLUME12/24%20Shemini.htm

As Yom Hazikaron is upon us, when we remember Israel's fallen soldiers, I am in awe of Miriam Peretz, mother of fallen soldiers Uriel and Eliraz Peretz.

I know that I will never have answers. After Uriel was killed, I realized one thing: A person cannot go about enjoying the good things in life, and then complain to God when things go bad. A person has to believe that God is running this world in all respects. As painful as some things may be, my faith in God only grows stronger. Because I know that whatever God does is for the good, and I accept it with love.
http://www.aish.com/jw/id/91340104.html

In 1998, her Miriam's son, Uriel was killed in an explosion in Lebanon. Her son's commander brought her a piece of a boulder upon which he was standing.
“The stone is burned. It smells of disaster, fire and blood. I have held it in front of me. Whenever I missed Uriel or I feared he was slipping away from me, I would take out the stone and put it on my heart,” she says, and holds it up to her chest.
...Eight years later, when he was in Lebanon, Eliraz asked for permission to go back to the spot where Uriel was killed. He brought home a piece of that same boulder. But this stone is white. It still has some sign of the fire, but it does not engulf the stone.
Eliraz asked her to place the burned stone in a box and to remember Uriel instead through the new stone.
...Since then, she has kept the burned stone in a small ivory box, and the white one outside of it.
“When they build the Third Temple, everyone will donate something. Some will give money, others will work. I want to put these two stones in the foundation of that Temple,” says Miriam.
http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Features/Article.aspx?id=173225